BEIJING—A good day to kick-off the Olympic Games it ain’t. The view from the CBC studio in Ling Long Pagoda, a tower overlooking the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube where I’ll be working for the next two weeks, is of one of those post-apocalyptic Beijing days you need to see to believe. The apartment blocks across from the man-made river snaking through the Olympic Green are barely visible. Through the clouds, the sun appears a “lurid red,” as an early Reuters report put it. For critics, Beijing hasn’t disappointed.

The weather may not be cooperating, but it won’t take away from today’s significance: the seven-year wait is over. “Welcome, World,” splashed today’s front page headline on the state-owned China Daily. China’s moment is here and it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

Forgive the melodrama, but Beijing is electric. (more…)